Happy Birthday!

Once a month, GCH celebrates the birthday of all the kids and helpers who have birthdays that month. Last Friday we celebrated the birthdays of Tia Helen (one of our adult support staff), Jaime (age 8), Yean (age 7), and Denisse (age 2). It is a fun time of celebration for all, with good food, music, a bounce house, pinatas, presents, and cakes.
This month, GCH was privileged to have a box of party supplies donated and collected by Kylie Hardy of Calvary Community Church in CA. Kylie is a teenager who visited GCH and decided she wanted to take on the task of gathering supplies needed for our monthly parties. She shared the need with her school and church and now the boxes are coming to GCH. Thank you, Kylie, for your creativity in providing wonderful parties for our kids!

Babies & Seniors

One of the dreams of GCH is to build a home for babies. GCH currently has just 2 babies (in the photo with their house mom), but we hope to someday have more. On a visit last May to the local social services shelters (where children who are abused or mistreated are housed), we discovered that there were 45 babies and only 2 caretakers. GCH wants to help!
We have recently begun to purchase land next to GCH to build a home for babies, as well as a home for seniors. Our dream is that the seniors would help take care of the babies, and the babies would receive much needed love. Please pray with us for our baby & senior homes.

Contact Info. & Directions to GCH

Do you need to reach us?...
Leave us a comment on our blog or email us at palaus@juno.com.
You can also call us at Grace Children's Home in Mexico at 011-52-664-215-7850 (when calling from the U.S.) or 664-215-7850 (when calling from Mexico).

MONKEY BARS

The men and women of Westgate church tested their climbing & hanging abilities (some as high as 4 floors up), while installing the windows on the front of the Education Center. Others took it a step higher to install the roofing and skylights. They made great headway on the rough plumbing, insulation on the top floor, and interior sheeting. When not working in the building, they kept busy cleaning, folding laundry, playing with kids, etc.
A big THANK YOU to the Westgate team for their efforts and to their church for providing a significant amount of funding to purchase the materials! Hope to see you guys again soon (hint, hint Greg Bacon!).

Westgate at Work

Please pray for the Westgate team from San Jose, CA who is currently working on our Education Center. They are finishing the roof, installing rough plumbing, and putting in windows VERY HIGH up. Pray for their safety and stamina, as well as us at GCH who are helping them.

Views to remember God

We never cease to be amazed at the beautiful views God gives us each day at GCH. It is a constant reminder to us that He holds the universe in His hands... and each one of our precious children!

Fencing By Faith

Many thanks to our faithful partners from Faith Bible Church in Temecula, CA who have come down every month to work at GCH since we opened our doors. The team is led by Jacob & Lauren Dietrich and they never miss a chance to shore up our fences. Thanks FBC!

GCH and YUGO

Did you know that Grace Children's Home is a project of YUGO Ministries? We joined up with YUGO two and a half years ago when we came to live in Mexico in 2004. We were sent out from Santa Cruz Bible Church.

Westgate Church Work Crew

Hi, this is George, and this is my very first blog entry ever. Pray that things go well with the construction and care team from Westgate Church in San Jose, CA, this Wednesday the 18th of October until the 22nd. Many different hurdles have yet to be overcome in order for me to be ready for them. Pray also for all the staff's patience, wisdom and endurance. Thank you!

What do we need at GCH?

Many of you have asked what you can get or bring to GCH to help us out. I've created a list below and hope to keep it updated for you. Thanks to all who have already given so generously! God has supplied many of our needs through you.


Grace Children’s Home (updated 10/06)
Current Needs List

Gift cards: Costco, Wal-Mart, Home Depot

Funding:
1. To continue construction of the Education Center
2. To finalize land purchase for Baby-Senior Homes and Church/ community center
3. For on-going monthly needs (water, electricity, transportation, medicine, etc)

Food: pinto beans, cooking oil, potatoes & tomatoes, cheese, chicken, hamburger meat, beef for stew, roasts, bacon, sausage, cilantro, fresh fruits & veggies, eggs, flour tortillas, ham/ sandwich meat, hot dogs, children’s multi-vitamins, maseca, jello

Cleaning/ Household supplies: laundry soap, Clorox, stain remover for clothes, Ajax, dish soap, pinesol, fabuloso, disinfecting wipes, disinfecting spray, dish/ cleaning towels, napkins, spray bottles, twin size sheet sets

Paper products: TP, paper plates, napkins, Kleenex, paper towels, large plastic storage bins, surgical gloves, gal.size Ziploc bags, plastic spoons, Costco size x-large storage containers (for clothes, etc), lunch bags

Personal Hygiene: shampoo, detangling spray, gel, diapers (sizes 5 & 6), diaper wipes, thick diaper ointment, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, disposable razors, hair brushes

Clothes: winter PJ’s (boys & girls sizes 3T – 14 youth), shoes (black or athletic, sizes 8 toddler – 5 youth), white or navy turtle neck or long sleeve shirts (boys & girls, sizes 3T – 14 youth), beige boys dockers-style pants (sizes 6-14), navy sweaters & vests (boys & girls sizes 4T – 14 youth)

School supplies: white out, erasers, hard back & CD-Rom Encyclopedias in Spanish for young adults (10+ yr olds), basic English curriculum (w/workbooks, etc) for teaching 8+yr olds

Refrigerator: New, energy efficient (at Costco for approx. $1,200)

Laptop: (Windows) – mainly for email & GCH presentations (power points and CD’s)

Vehicles:
1. Fairly new 15 passenger van – low miles, reliable, good condition, pref. diesel
2. Trailer for intern housing – good condition, electrical/ water working

Scaffolds Galore

A BIG thank you to Horizon Baptist Church of Surprise, AZ who recently came down to construct our scaffolding. This will be used next week by Westgate Community Bible Church of San Jose, CA to install windows and complete exterior work.
The teens and adults of Horizon worked diligently for 3 days and were a blessing to all of us at GCH. Thank you Horizon Church and to our long time friends, Noah & Kari Gale, who were also on the trip!

A Handsome Crew

Did you know?...
In all Mexican schools kids must wear uniforms everyday. They have "formal" uniforms for flag days and "sporty" uniforms for P.E. days. They are required to wear certain shoes and pants (and skirts for the girls), and all shirts must be solid white, collared shirts (some with the school logo). I'm sure Clorox's stock must be going up!
A special THANKS to those who have sent supplies, uniforms, and funds to help outfit our HANDSOME crew. You should see the girls -- they look like precious dolls!